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- While Moses was up on Mount Sinai talking with God, what were the Israelites doing at the bottom of the mountain?
-The Israelites had made a calf out of gold, and they were worshipping it.
- Did God know that the Israelites were worshipping a golden calf?
-Yes.
- Was God angry with the Israelites?
-Yes.
-God was so angry with the Israelites that He wanted to destroy them.
- Why did God not destroy all of the Israelites?
-Because Moses prayed to God not to destroy them.
- What did Moses do when he reached the bottom of Mount Sinai?
-Moses was so angry with the Israelites that he threw down the two tablets of stone of God’s commandments and broke them.
- Because Moses broke the two stone tablets on which God had written the ten commandments, what did God tell Moses to do?
-God told Moses to carve two new tablets, and take them up to the mountain where God wrote once more His ten commandments.
- If the Israelites had not built the tent exactly as God had told them, would the glory of God have entered the tent?
-No.
- Were the Israelites able to approach God their own way?
-No.
- What was the only way that the Israelites were able to approach God?
-God’s way.
- How can we know the way of God?
-Through God’s Book, the Bible.
-God chose Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt and out of bondage.
-Moses was also God’s messenger.
-When God wanted to speak to the Israelites, He would speak to Moses who would speak to the Israelites.
-God guided Moses to say to the Israelites what God wanted him to say.
-God also guided Moses to write down that which God
wanted him to write.
-Who wrote the first five books in God’s Book, the Bible?
-Moses.
-How did Moses know what to write?
-God guided Moses to write down that which God wanted him to write.
-The Israelites had left Egypt, and were traveling through the desert.
-As the Israelites were traveling through the desert, how did they know the way?
-God guided them.
Let’s read Exodus 40:36-38
36-In all the travels of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, they would set out;
37-but if the cloud did not lift, they did not set out–until the day it lifted.
38-So the cloud of the LORD was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel during all their travels.
-When God wanted the Israelites to stop, God would make the cloud stop.
-When God wanted the Israelites to go, God would make the cloud go.
-After God had given the Israelites His ten commandments, and after the Israelites had made the tent for God, God lifted up the cloud.
-Where was God leading the Israelites?
-God was leading the Israelites to Canaan, the land that He had promised to their forefather Abraham.
-The Israelites followed the cloud, and God led them to the border of Canaan.
-When the Israelites arrived at the border of Canaan, what did God tell Moses to do?
Let’s read Numbers 13:1-2
1-The LORD said to Moses,
2-“Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites. From each ancestral tribe send one of its leaders.”
-God told Moses to choose one man from each of the twelve tribes to go and explore the land.
-Moses obeyed God, and sent the twelve men to explore the land of Canaan.
Let’s read Numbers 13:3
3-So at the LORD’s command Moses sent them out from the Desert of Paran. All of them were leaders of the Israelites.
-Before Moses sent the twelve men to explore the land of Canaan, what did he tell them?
Let’s read Numbers 13:17-21
17-When Moses sent them to explore Canaan, he said, “Go up through the Negev and on into the hill country.
18-See what the land is like and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many.
19-What kind of land do they live in? Is it good or bad? What kind of towns do they live in? Are they unwalled or fortified?
20-How is the soil? Is it fertile or poor? Are there trees on it or not? Do your best to bring back some of the fruit of the land.”
21-So they went up and explored the land from the Desert of Zin as far as Rehob, toward Lebo Hamath.
-At the end of forty days, the twelve men returned from exploring the land of Canaan.
-This is what the twelve men told Moses and the Israelites about the land of Canaan.
Let’s read Numbers 13:27-29
27-They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit.
28-But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there.
29-The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan.”
-The land of Canaan was a land of milk and honey.
-It was also a land filled with large and powerful people.
-The cities of Canaan were also strong, and high walls surrounded the cities.
-Of the twelve men who went to explore the land of Canaan, ten of the men did not believe in God.
-What did the ten men who did not believe in God say to the Israelites?
Let’s read Numbers 13:31-33
31-But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.”
32-And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size.
33-We saw the Nephilim there. We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”
-Why did the ten men who did not believe in God not want to enter Canaan?
-The ten men were afraid of the large and powerful people living in Canaan.
-The ten men did not believe that God was powerful enough to defeat the people of Canaan.
-The ten men did not believe God’s promise to give the Israelites the land of Canaan.
-The ten men told the Israelites that they should not enter Canaan.
-Of the twelve men, there were two men who believed in God.
-Their names were Caleb and Joshua.
-What did Caleb and Joshua say to the Israelites?
Let’s read Numbers 13:30
30-Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”
-Why did Caleb and Joshua want to enter Canaan?
-Caleb and Joshua were not afraid of the large and powerful people living in Canaan.
-Caleb and Joshua believed that God was powerful enough to defeat the people of Canaan.
-Caleb and Joshua believed God’s promise to give the Israelites the land of Canaan.
-Caleb and Joshua told the Israelites that they should obey God and enter Canaan.
-Did the Israelites listen to the ten men who did not believe in God, or did they listen to Caleb and Joshua who believed in God?
Let’s read Numbers 14:1-4
1-That night all the people of the community raised their voices and wept aloud.
2-All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, “If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this desert!
3-Why is the LORD bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?”
4-And they said to each other, “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”
-The Israelites listened to the ten men who did not believe in God, and did not want to enter the land of Canaan.
-Caleb and Joshua spoke once again to the Israelites.
Let’s read Numbers 14:6-9
6-Joshua, son of Nun, and Caleb, son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had explored the land, tore their clothes
7-and said to the entire Israelites assembly, “The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good.
8-If the LORD is pleased with us, He will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us.
9-Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will swallow them up. Their protection is gone, but the LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them.”
-Caleb and Joshua begged the Israelites not to disobey God.
-Caleb and Joshua told the Israelites that God was powerful enough to defeat the people of Canaan.
-Did the Israelites agree to enter the land of Canaan?
Let’s read Numbers 14:10a
10-But the whole assembly talked about stoning them.
-The Israelites still did not want to enter Canaan.
-The Israelites still did not want to obey God.
-The Israelites wanted to stone Caleb, Joshua, and Moses.
-Did God hear what the Israelites were saying?
-Yes.
-Did God know that the Israelites did not want to enter Canaan?
-Yes.
-Did God know that the Israelites did not believe that He was powerful enough to defeat the people of Canaan?
-Yes.
-Did God know that the Israelites did not believe His promise to give Canaan to them?
-Yes.
-The Israelites did not believe that God would keep His promise to give Canaan to them.
-If we do not believe God’s message, what are we calling God?
-A liar.
-The Israelites did not believe God’s message.
-The Israelites were calling God a liar.
-Here is what God said:
Let’s read Numbers 14:26-32
26-The LORD said to Moses and Aaron:
27-“How long will this wicked community grumble against me? I have heard the complaints of these grumbling Israelites.
28-So tell them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the LORD, I will do to you the very things I heard you say:
29-In this desert your bodies will fall–every one of you twenty years old or more who was counted in the census and who has grumbled against me.
30-Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.
31-As for your children that you said would be taken as plunder, I will bring them in to enjoy the land you have rejected.
32-But you–your bodies will fall in this desert.’”
-Because the Israelites refused to believe in God, who alone would enter Canaan?
-Only Caleb, Joshua, and the children of the Israelites.
-Because the Israelites refused to believe in God, how did God punish them?
-They would not enter Canaan.
-They would all die in the desert.
-God will always punish with death those who refuse to believe in Him.
-The people of Noah’s day refused to believe in God, and God punished them with death.
-The people of Sodom and Gomorrah refused to believe in God, and God punished them with death.
-Pharaoh and the Egyptians refused to believe in God, and God punished them with death.
-God will punish with death in the Lake of Eternal Fire those who refuse to believe in Him.